To link to the entire object, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed the entire object, paste this HTML in websiteTo link to this page, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed this page, paste this HTML in website

Voices from the Past
Art and Painting
By Oliver Parson
August 3, 1982
Tape # 28
Oral interview conducted by Harold Forbush
Transcribed by Theophilus E. Tandoh October 2004
Brigham Young University- Idaho
HF: Art and artists in Madison, Fremont Counties in the state of Idaho. It is my privilege
this early morning of Tuesday, the third day of August, nineteen eighty- two, to interview
Oliver Parson. Who has been involved in the subject matter for many years, and we are
most delighted to have him come to Rexburg. Mr. Parson would you state your resident,
well let’s have you state your full name, your residence and your occupation?
OP: Well, I am Oliver Parson, and Rexburg has been my home since 1954. I came to
Ricks College at that time and was heading the Art Department and served in that
occupation for nineteen years, and then after twenty- five years I retired. So at the present
time, I’m [ a] retired Art professor, I am a painter, I do workshops in different areas but at
the present time I have just returned from a mission in Canada in the Montero Canadian
Mission, where I served for eighteen months.
HF: So you are not really retired. You are still very much involved in painting and
pursuing your love of painting?
OP: Yes, I still am. In fact whilst I was on my mission I taught a number of art classes to
non- members and had several art exhibits in Canada of my paintings. And I brought a
number of paintings home in fact I sell them in Texas and some in southern Utah on the
way home from my mission.
HF: Where were you born and when?
OP: I was born in Kansas in 1916 in a little town called Hanra Kansas it’s just a very
small place, it had about maybe hundred and fifty people.
HF: And when?
OP: In 1916, December the 24, 1916.
HF: Okay, and would you share with us just a little about, of your background, your
ancestral background, both sides of family?
OP: Well, my parents were farmers from farmer families. And my mother’s parents were
German background; they came from Iowa, and were pioneers in central Kansas. My
father’s parents were also homesteaders in that area of the partion name, searching
genealogy, we’ve had some success in finding out that they came from Pennsylvania and
my father’s mother was a Roger and that line is a little bit harder to find and we think
they came from Oklahoma or something, it is a little bit harder to find.
HF: What were the various factors or motivating circumstances that led you into formal
training as an artist?
OP: Well, I’ve always wanted to be a carpenter, as [ a] small lad and I used to go to all the
cowboy movies that I can see and attend. And then I started to draw the cowboys and the
horses and when I was in grade school, I used to enjoy the aromatic life of the outdoors.
And I started to paint when I was in the seventh grade. I really didn’t have much formal
training, like a small school I went to high school we didn’t have… in high school but I
still painted and it was sort of self taught until I reached the age of a junior in college,
where I really earned my first formal training but I remember when I was small, my
grand parents had two homes, one was the regular home and then they had this little two
room house that we lived in some of the time, and on the wall they had little painting that
was about 8 by 10 that some artist had done and I used to just look at that and that wasn’t
the original and think probably that was of the places that I got the idea that maybe I
would like to be an artist. And I think as far as paint and to be an artist or a painter that
was where I got my inspiration and probably it really wasn’t a very good painting but it
was one that I enjoyed.
HF: At that time did you know anything about Charles Russell?
OP: No.
HF: And Remington?
OP: No, I didn’t really know our history at all, in fact many of the things; I didn’t have
any background in any art history at all. I used to like, like I said cowboy movies and I
learnt to read while enjoyed cowboy stories and I think, ah I can think of it, a painter
whose work I like very much. He wrote a story - Will Jane, and the story’s smoky. And
then in one of his books he had some beautiful paint drawings and I really enjoyed those,
in fact I copied, used to copy them. And so that was probably my first association with
outdoor drawings. And I used to enjoy the … the Saturday Evening Post, and then
eventually I enjoyed Charles Russell. I didn’t really become acquainted with the
Remington’s art for many years. I like Charles Russell, I thought they were tremendous.
HF: How about the influence maybe of this Thomas Myron?
OP: No, like I say, I really didn’t come across their work, we didn’t have any art books in
the school where I went, I had an old art books on my own. And so my closest
associations with illustrations will be from the Pope Westerns that were on the market at
that time. I used to enjoy the drawings and the paintings in the books and the covers. I
remember my uncle used to read those Western books, Western Pope Magazines as they
were. I used to hang on to the cupboards and tear out some of the pictures for scrap. I got
some scrap that I’ve had for many many years. Scrap is we call it is when you collect
pictures. In fact I’ve looked in through some of my stuff just recently that I’ve collected
since the ’ 20’ s. I remember in one of the news papers and magazines they used to have an
adromy that was put up by one of the commercial, art correspondent courses, famous and
less famous artists. Anyway I drew that and I sent it in and that was in or I was going to
try this, I think it is in the early ’ 30’ s or maybe in the late ’ 20’ s, 1920’ s and I sent those in
and I think have a little book that they sent me. So I wasn’t very old.
HF: Professor Parson, you indicated that you came here to head the art department at
Ricks in 1954, what formal training had you at that time and maybe did you get formal
training afterwards or just what was they?
OP: Okay maybe I came last in 1937, I just graduated from high school. And like I said,
we’ve had no formal training and I went to Weber College and they didn’t have art at
Weber College at that time and I was still interested in it and I used to do chalk cups for
entertainment on the stage, at ward functions and man by the name of Clarson in Obt
Insomy, working one day and he contacted me and he was a window decorator and he
liked my work and so he offered me a job as painter. He didn’t do any painting, but he
did do animated window decoration so I did all these paintings for about four years. And
I had finished my schooling at River College and then I went to University of Utah and
took art from one of my favorite western painters or landscape painters was a man by
name of Lucan Stewart, he was the head of the art department at University of Utah. So
down there, started taking art from the university art department, I did pretty well in my
first quarter there. I went from an average from a C student to a straight A. But like I said,
I had very little background in it. But I remember Lucan Stewart said you got a good
feeling for landscape painting and he said you will do alright. So I got my degree from
University of Utah and education and was a major in art. And I went to Colorado State to
get a minor which was in industrial log. After graduation I taught school in Salt Lake for
two years and it was about the time of the war. And so I left teaching profession and
worked for Remington Armforce. And we built ammunition fifty calva machine gun volts
is what I was working on and I was a tool guy repair man there for a couple years. Then I
went in service for two years and then when I came back I went back into teaching in
Antonia, Ogden. My first job when I came back out of service was in elementary as I
taught art to fourth, fifth and sixth graders. And I remember I had thirty classes a day, not
part in those thirty classes. I had thirty students and we had, well anyway every half hour
I had a new group of students and then from there I went to another school in the same
Ogden city school system and taught two more years in junior high then I got a job at
Spring Ville high school as guardian instructor there and I was also the curator at
Springville High School and went back to the University of Utah and got my masters
degree.
HF: Now just a little diversion here, Spring Ville does have a quite famous art display, or
what is it?
OP: Yes, it has an art gallery there that was built during the depression era years by the
Derive Gaye, and it is a beautiful art gallery. It has, well I should say an art museum,
because they have about ten or twelve art rooms in that building and they have a
collection there that’s really, I think probably the most outstanding in the mountain west.
HF: Is this picture, original, or prints?
OP: Oh yes, no no it’s all original.
HF: All original. Is it primarily of western painting?
OP: Not necessarily no, it’s all times. And every spring they have national show there
where they had bringing paintings all over the United States and anyone is that is well
known they try to get very good art there.
HF: In your opinion, in your manner is there a way of classifying or grouping art and say
artists who follow a certain line or philosophy or style?
OP: I think that you can probably, there is a number of - isms but you can probably break
it down into realism or abstraction and realism if you want to just break it into several
categories but there are other areas in there for instance cubism and impressionism. For a
number of years abstraction was the going thing but the pendulum has swung in that
direction where most of the colleges were teaching only that time. Still there are some of
them still going that direction but the people here in the upper valley at least at Ricks
College we try to teach fundamentals and some of these Collages; they taught in such a
manner that they really didn’t give them the basics. They didn’t want to destroy people’s
ability to do their own thinking, so they wouldn’t really give them a direction. In my
feeling I think people really need to have a good foundation and then they can go any
direction that they want go.
HF: And so that’s been your effort as an instructor to give a lot of good basic training.
OP: That is right. Yes and then they can go abstraction or cubism or any direction that
they want to, but they need to have a foundation.
HF: Now when we talk about western paintings, is that part of realism?
OP: Yes, yes but its subject matter and it matter that people can recognize the subject are
recognizable. And in this western paintings you can have quite a bit of freedom you have
all freedom that you want to have. But the…
HF: You can emphasize maybe action?
OP: Oh yes, many of the western painters now. Some of them go back into history and
some of them paint the west as it is, at the present time really; they don’t go back into
history. They are influenced by the ranges and cowboys and the Indians who actually are
with us today, some of the painters don’t necessarily go back into history or try to paint
things as they were then but as they are now.
HF: In other words they get their inspiration from what they see.
OP: That is right.
HF: With the abstractism or obstruction type painting it’s from what, imagination?
OP: That is right. It’s ah, what they do is they do work with probably the principles of art
and elements of art. But some of those paintings are only for the people who had done
them to interpret them. You really don’t know what they had in mind when they when
they were doing it. If you just have to look at them and say well, it has good color, has
good line you may enjoy it, but as far interpreting it you may not know for what sure
what the artist had in mind when he was painting.
HF: Let me just pinpoint some things here and get your reaction Mr. Parson. The subjects
I guess which Remington and Russell used, the plain Indian and cowboy- can you respond
to some beautiful paintings in that area and painters other than those that I’ve mentioned.
Are there those that seem to want [ to] perpetuate what Russell and Remington did, can
you call in mind any art, piece of art that somebody has done and somebody the name.
OP: You mean well, we’ve only mentioned Remington and Russell. At one time
Remington’s paintings were taught of as commercial. He is known as a commercial artist.
But I am going to deviate just lightly from [ the] question but his paintings now are in my
estimation are real masterpieces, there are fine arts they are really beautiful. I just saw an
exhibit of his last winter and Ogden Burg, New York. It was; they are really beautiful.
Dare Stab did western things and Myron both of them did the west, they Myron enjoyed
the Grand Jury of yellow stone he did some beautiful things of the Yellowstone area and
Dare Stab did the western mountains. And as we come on down, there was a group of
people probably who were most influential after those painters there, there was a group of
people who came to Taos, New Mexico and started an art college and there was about
five or six of them who went in there first. George and Henry Sharp were one of the first
men in there, Philips, Bloominshine …
HF: When were they, what the late nineteenth century, or even in the twentieth century?
OP: Some of them I don’t know if any of those groups are still living or not, Freemon
Ellis I still see some of his paintings. But I think if he is living he is very very old. Seems
to me like some of those other men have passed away, but seem to me like they came in,
in the thirties and established the colony there.
HF: Were they influenced by the scenery the last day?
OP: Oh yes, the people the Indians the quietude of that country thing. Beautiful light and
the color and the Indians and Mexican people who were in that area. Sharp did most of
the Indians … Bloominshine did the canyons. There was another man who did a lot of
work in that area and he was Delano. He was quite famous and William Ali was another,
at the same time.
HF: In the Taos?
OP: Yes, in the Mexico area.
HF: Well now, since you came to the Upper Snake River Valley in 1954, what particular
landscape here in this Upper Valley has influenced you?
OP: Well, I like all trees along the river. I think it is beautiful in the fall. This is nice I
use; when I first came here I spent a lot of time in the Rexburg bench, on the bench there,
I homestead the old buildings were there, first came here. I did a lot of those old
buildings and…
HF: You take your belongings with you and your paintings?
OP: Go out and find those areas and paint them, most of them are gone now. I enjoy the
Tetons, most my paintings at the Teton have been from the Idaho side… the Jackson side.
HF: Who, would you give, up along the distance or would you go right up there in the
mountains?
OP: I did a lot of my paintings just south of Tetonia around Tetonia, because you get
those trees’ foreground. I used to like to have something in the foreground so the creeks
there and that gives a nice foreground and then you have those tyrant peaks in the
background about the area.
HF: Now do you take photographs?
OP: No, I used to paint, I [ am] getting older now so that I … But as at least have a good
background of painting directing from the things. You have knowledge that you like.
Sometimes photographs are hard to work with unless you have a lot of experience from
actual painting on the scene. It is harder to work from the photograph I think.
HF: Now how do you, do you like capture events, social things?
OP: I like going back to the wagon and buggy, I like to put horses and wagon like the
pioneer things in my paintings. In recent I’ve been like I say like wagon and people going
to town and from town, covered wagons. In fact I sort of lived in that area a little bit.
When I was a youngster we moved from south Kansas to western Kansas in covered
wagon and we lived in a dug outs, did have a wood flow in them. But snakes were pretty
friendly with us. So I did live with the wagon and buggy experience when I was a
youngster.
HF: And you tried to bring people into those?
OP: Yes I do, I go to, I also like rendezvous tracker subject of this rendezvous, where you
can actually get a good scrap, good photos of actual people on and their equipment. And
you have authentic reference to work from.
HF: Have you ever done anything with the P area rendezvous 1832, the gathering of the
… up here in Teton basin?
OP: No I haven’t, I should have a rendezvous up in that area.
HF: Every year now.
OP: So I need permission on that, because it is good painting material.
HF: How about portraits of people, do you have people sit and…?
OP: Yes.
HF: You did that?
OP: Yes do portrait and I enjoy portrait painting very much it’s really enjoyable to have
someone sit for you. You have a rapport or a relationship of learning their characters,
their inner thoughts drawing their portraits.
HF: What’s the most enjoyable painting that influenced you and you just always loved
down through the years?
OP: That’s probably, I really don’t know whether I can say, well I enjoy this painting
more than anybody else’s. If you go back to portraits figure, you back sending the
impressionist from France, I enjoyed their work very much- Degour, Remont the two that
I enjoy very much. There were several people whose work I used to enjoy that were from
the twentieth century, Ogden Pliers he may be dead now, I am not sure but he was a
water colorist that I enjoyed. I like his work very much. And probably as far as water
color is, I probably was influenced by him and then the others. I used to hand his work
when I was a curator at the Springville Art Gallery and looked forward [ to] seeing his
work pretty much.
HF: Now do you personally, did you start out by using oil and canvas?
OP: Yes, my first painting was, I found a canned and when you open it up the oil on top
is usually different than the pigment underneath. So I remember the two different colors
like I said, the oil is one color and the pigment below was a different color. So I started
analyzing that and I used to use my mother’s blooing for part of my equipment. I didn’t
have much equipment when I was young crisis tends it enormous to paint with. I
remember the first oils I had they were about the tubes are probably, maybe two and half
inches and smaller than your little finger. And they were so precious that I really never
did use those paints. You know I used to open up the tube and squeeze out just a little bit.
But after the flood, I found some of those tubes that I still had and that would have been
all forty- five years old.
HF: Now, in getting supplies, I suppose it isn’t difficult to procure your oils now days?
OP: No, no
HF: And your brushes?
OP: Brushes and paints are easy to keep now.
HF: They are not probably too expensive.
OP: Well, they don’t give them away. But they are much easier to get hold of them than
what they were when I was a youngster.
HF: Now the material that is referred to as canvas, what is that material, is that something
of fabric out the real canvas?
OP: It’s a fabric, it is woven just like the canvas like the canvas that you…
HF: Very tightly woven.
OP: Yes there are different materials, you got a cotton canvas, most expensive and
probably better I don’t know, whether it’s really better but the linen canvas it cost you
more. There also you can paint on what is known as canvas board, they are probably the
least desirable, masonize is a good material to paint on, and I have been doing some
paintings on masonize. Many artist paint on masonize, most of them will paint on the
smooth side rather than on the rough side. They put a coating on it or seal it, which
usually gesso, couple of coatings, gesso is put on there and it gives it a good seal. And it
is a good background to paint on.
HF: Now Mr. Parson, we’ve talked about oil and canvas, what other media is used for an
artist to express himself?
OP: At present time they have a guarsh, which is a water soluble material but is sought
like poster paint. You can use water color also, which is a water soluble pigment. And
you paint on most generally is painted on paper but the paper is a very good quality, is
usually made rag paper. There is also acrylic, which is a material that is just recent
development and drives extremely fast and it’s very durable. I usually don’t enjoy using
acrylic because it drives too fast. There is a past out which is another media that you
might say well, it is short like chocolate is. It is the good pigment that they use in these
other materials like the same pigment that you have in oil and water color only it’s in a
dry stick form, and it’s a good media to use. It is rich in color. Both water color and
Pastal have to be under glass to protect because it could be smeared or get damaged if
anybody touches it because it. We also have pen and ink, pencil charcoal; those are good
media to use.
HF: Those called paintings or just sketches?
OP: No they will be called drawings.
HF: Drawings.
OP: This is just viable as paintings are. And they can carry the same message and be just
as expressive and just as enjoyable as these other things.
HF: Now you’ve used the oil and canvas, the water colors?
OP: Yes, I’ve used them all.
HF: All of these that you’ve been describing, you’ve used them all.
OP: One that I have never done egg template which is a good medium, it is used with
water color and we use the yokes of eggs as your vehicle or as a media to thin your paint
with. And it’s very durable and it dries very quickly. Andrew Wyle who is one of the top
painters in our country and he does, many of his paintings are done in egg template dry
brush. It’s sort of a water color medium but it’s beautifully done and you can get very
accurate detail because of the method of putting it on just a little bit of a time.
HF: Well, now as a professor here, the head of the art department, what was used up here,
what schemes and what types of art did you teach and was provided here in Ricks
College in these awesome twenty five years that [ you] were professor?
OP: I think we’ve covered most of the things we’ve been mentioning here; we used all
the media here.
HF: Did you?
OP: Yes, when I first came out I was the only member of the art department and I taught
everything. And I was by myself for six year. So I thought all the classes, taught all the
subjects in the art department. Brother Powell was the first instructor that came to join the
art department and he taught when he first came, he taught some lettering and ceramics.
We just sort of divided the area up by, I thought mostly the oil paintings and if I
remember right he did teach some of the water color. By the time I left Ricks, we have
added five more instructors besides myself. At the present time, there are six art
instructors at Ricks College. And they cover all the facets.
HF: That will include the area of sculpture or sculpturing.
OP: That is right. I taught sculpture for many years and then eventually, John Marfid
came and took over the sculpture and then after John Briggarin was the sculpture teacher.
At the present they are getting a new sculpture teacher. Briggarin is moving down to
Brigham Young University.
HF: Does sculpturing appeal to you as equally with painting?
OP: I love it very much. It is more time consuming. It takes a longer time to get a piece of
art created during sculpture work.
HF: What was your first piece of sculpture?
OP: My first piece of sculpture is you go back probably was some alabaster carving and
some animals that did… and the crafting line. And I did some horses, fighting stallions
and in wood, I carve some in wood and eventually did those in clay and then I worked
with the clay quite a bit. My first one in doing people was a pioneer man and his wife.
They were only about ten inches high and that was my first attempt.
HF: And this was out of clay?
OP: Yes, that was out of clay.
HF: What did you do, fired that, and make sort of pottery or something?
OP: Yes. And you can work in on oil clay that has to be cast, if you use oil clay you have
to cast, though you can work with wax and this has to be cased.
HF: You cased it into metal?
OP: You make a mole first and then you can either cast in cluster pallet or cement door
and have them cast in bronze. That is the most durable, it is quite expensive. I might go
back and mention that Alacoal was the executive of faculty at Ricks after brother Powell
and then Robert Wall came as one of our faculty members and then…
HF: Have they trained in a particular way, focusing attention on some facets?
OP: Yes.
HF: For example just indicate that.
OP: Well, brother Coles worked one period of time. He worked quite abstractly, and he
was doing very well with his painting and he was winning prizes at exhibits and so you
look at peoples work and see what they are doing also how much recognition they are
getting in different areas and so that is a good criteria as to adding it. As faculty member
we also like to have fun and have some experience in teaching. Usually we look and see
whether we are successful in our school where they were teaching. Many of them went to
high school before they came to Ricks. After brother Coles, we added Brother Muffed
and then Richard Bird was commercial artist who was doing very well in commercial art
field. And he got after he received his masters degree in Brigham Young University we
added him to our faculty. He’s going to commercial field. After when I retired my son
Leon who had trained in Los Angeles at the art centre was doing Freelance work down
there and he came and took over some of the commercial art areas at the art department
in Ricks.
HF: Now with the department acquiring this new facility in the… what is this building up
here…
OP: Oh the fine art building?
HF: No, no over in the other building. They got the new; they put the new addition on the
Kirkham and all.
OP: Oh, that sculpture and poetry, yes for ceramic. That was added after I left.
HF: That is a new dimension through the art department.
OP: The facility didn’t change the instruction because the instruction was being given for
many many years before that building. It’s just a nice facility; it is a good physical
facility. But the instruction has been given for many years. So I just made it better as far
as it facilitates the teaching area.
HF: So that will expand the opportunity for students to do more things bigger and better
things?
OP: I don’t think they expand the opportunity for them to do much more. It just makes it
more comfortable.
HF: I see.
OP: Because we’ve been doing the same thing that they are teaching now for many years.
HF: Now brother Parson down through the years is an instructor here with the art
department. Has there been a display of an exhibit what the students do in the art
department. They’ve been displayed?
OP: When I first came to Ricks. I was desirous.
HF: The interview will be continued on side two of this tape. Side two continuing the
interview with Oliver Parson pertaining to art and artists in Fremont Madison County of
Idaho. Now you were commenting about a place to exhibit and demonstrating art.
OP: As I started to say, when I first came, I was desirous to have the upper here known as
a night area. And I remember soon as the Kirkham auditorium was built I made sure that
the ball room had facilities to hang painting in there. And we had many exhibits in the
Kirkham. We invited one known artist to have one man show, we had group shows there
and the students we usually had a student showing in there. And then when the new
Manwaring Center was built, it was also fixed to have paintings and oil and I should say
exhibits in there. And we had stands that were fixed so we have excellent shows and a
number of years we had invitational show compared to what we had in Springville, Utah.
And we had artists from all over the country send paintings and I also made trips to many
different cities and picked up paintings for that show. But it was finally discontinued. I go,
it was rather unfortunate that it was discontinued, because it gave the people in this Upper
Valley the opportunity to see an exhibit which for many people they have no opportunity
at all to see a national show.
HF: Was it discontinued because of lack of genuine demands for both interests in the
thing?
OP: Well, probably administrative, I don’t know. Maybe we take… too expensive, I
don’t know. But it was conducted in such a manner that the whole community was
involved in it because the people who conducted the tours or who acted as hosts were
from the different community… or different wards in Rexburg would be given a certain
day that they were to come and act as a host for the show. And many people were
becoming involved and becoming acquainted with different medias and many people
didn’t even know the difference between the water color or… and so it wasn’t an
educational thing that I felt that it would have been nice and it could have been continued.
HF: That gives rise to the question that I have here. What can we do locally to assist and
spread the good word as far as knowledge, exposure and assisting the artist in a
disposition of their works selling them?
OP: Well, that is …
HF: That is a tough question isn’t it?
OP: Yes, tough question, people need to become acquainted with the artists who are in
this area. They are saying that you don’t find many communities with the population of
size of Rexburg with the number of artist who are participating in this area. It’s probably
very few people; people in this area owned the original works of this artist. Most of the
artist works going to out of state.
HF: To go out of the area to sell.
OP: They are sending their work all over the country and a very few people here even,
never see their work.
HF: What can we do to remedy this situation?
OP: Well, it would be very well if we could at least have an art exhibit. I remember that it
was rather hard, when I was running the exhibit here to ah…, once I put show the up to
get keep the show up because if they had a dance while they hold and pull a hundred
thousand dollar exhibit down so that somebody could have a dance in the ball room
which was the only facility where we could hold the shows. But…
HF: But you’ve been frustrated I think.
OP: I gotta say you got an exhibit maybe even more than a hundred thousand dollars of
the paintings and people want to pull them down to for… I think that people ought to
become acquainted with the artist that they have here. They really have some excellent
artist here.
HF: Why don’t you name some our artist and designate those who as you name them
indicate whether or not they were students of the art?
OP: Well, probably if we mention some of these art faculties, Franchis Richard Bird, an
excellent artist one of the excellent teacher then.
HF: What does he specialize in?
OP: He specializes in…
HF: Commercial.
OP: Commercial work but his fine art work, he is doing his water color, just beautiful
water color work. And he was one of my former students actually I think he started
taking art with me about the second year that I taught here. And I probably missed his life
of that change. He… I think he was going to be a chicken farmer until a life of interest
and the excitement being an artist. I’ve had a number of Dawn Ricks’ sons, as students
and Dawn and his four sons are in the area. They are…
HF: Doug…
OP: Doug and Russell.
HF: Doug and Russell?
OP: I think he has four of them are painters here and they all live in this area. And most
of their work goes out of the state.
HF: What are they classified, what type of paint?
OP: They are doing westerns, I know Doug is doing beautiful water color and oil, Indians
and TP’s and …
HF: Did he have to sell them in Texas?
OP: Most of them go to; a lot of them go to Texas. My son is Darling, does a lot of work
for the church. And his work, he’s also a freelance artist; he is sensitive work too in
Texas and Arizona and to Wyoming. Most of it goes out to the state. Very few people in
fact he could see any of these artist work. Lyon who filled my vacancy when that I made
when I retired, many of the people see his work if they look at the outdoor live he’s been
doing the cupboards for the outdoor live since December. And he also sends his work to
the galleys out in the state. One of my other sons is also in this area painting like I said;
you have many people here who are painting the Le French’s…
HF: Ronny…
OP: Ronny is one of my former students he teaches art down at the art school. Carolyn
Coul Clarkson…
HF: She is a student of yours?
OP: I think so, I am trying to think whether I am sure I’ve had hers student in the old
Clement. I’ve had Robert Wall, Robert Wall, he is one of the professors up there, but he
is one of my former students. John Morphed who is sculpture work and he is a former
student. Tim Wilbert has taken art from me, Marion Cheney, Arlene Hampton who lives
in St. Anthony at the present time is doing some beautiful past stuff. I just saw some of
her work recently. And she is from one of my former students; in fact she started taking
art from me just about when I arrived here. And that’s very… It might be interesting I…
when I first came… it was sixty years old. Who came to … taught and she finished her
degree and taught art three years and then she retired and continued painting until she
was in her eighties. Sister Lennon was really a good artist. I talked with her just before
my mission and she said oh, how happy she was that she had our art and she continued to
paint. She said many people came to her and wanted her to do paintings for her. She was
also a very good musician and pianist. But she said they didn’t come to her home to listen
to her music to enjoy her paintings. And so was happy to have had the experience and
checking up… I’ve had many people at the present time who are quite successful in art.
It’s rather hard for me to pin point names, I thought well maybe I should have gone back
and looked through my role books and picked up someone…
HF: Who are involved and making it livelihood.
OP: Oh yes I have many of them who are making a livelihood and good livelihood in the
art field.
HF: What particular type of paintings did the public seem to really go on?
OP: They like realism; they get right close to a painting and see that the anatomy is
correct on whatever people would like to see…. the anatomy of which trees and the rocks
are correct. They seem to want paintings to be quite photograph.
HF: Can you suggest what for a good painting?
OP: There are artist who very well established their paintings in the three thousand mark.
You are going to some of the paintings such as, Tom Level or John Claimer who belong
to an American Callaway artist association. Their painting is selling at fifty to eighty
thousand, eighty five thousand. It’s very lucrative.
HF: Where did they place these paintings to lift together a price like that, any place in
here in west?
OP: Oh yes, in Jackson, you go to Jackson, Wyoming and just in galleries over there.
There are some paintings about four or five galleries in Jackson trail side of the galleries.
And lot of these…
HF: Did they place their paintings on some kind of a consignment?
OP: Yes on a consignment. And the galleries tend to take the paintings. A lot of these
paintings that the French’s mentioned are sold from the very high are sold in auctions,
some of them along with the livestocks auction where they have price, animals, horses
and cattle. And they also have these exhibits and the paintings are auctioned. There is an
exhibit usually in October in Phoenix, Arizona where the cowboy artists in America have
an exhibit and they exchange hands there on horse in a million.
HF: Brother Parson ah… in the Upper Snake River Valley, is there an annual guild or an
art exhibit or some kind of an art show where in our local people can make disposition of
their paintings?
OP: At one time we had the Upper Valley artist guild and it was organized just soon after
I came here we had quite a number of artists in that group and we…
HF: Here in Rexburg?
OP: Yes, at the present time I don’t know of any of art guild here. I think they may or
there is not… but I don’t think there is an exhibit here. Usually… and see some of these
artist work and also at the Madison County fair they usually have a fairly art exhibit at
the Madison County fair and you can see some of local artist like I said some of these
artist don’t put their work in so their… see those that maybe go to their studio and see
them before the ship were on fifth west. That you can see I think maybe he has a galley
down on the Arture Limon road.
HF: Do you have one?
OP: I have one in my home.
HF: Of your own, and your sons or just of your own?
OP: No just mine.
HF: Of your own. What do you think of ah… and I would like you to comment on
purchasing art at an auction as an investment for future speculation and resale profit. Is it
a good thing to get into, do you know what you are doing?
OP: If you know what you are doing it’s a good thing for instance, some of these that I
mentioned. Some of these work that way up in the thousands. I am sure that some of
these people who put their self pieces of work are purchasing as an investment. Because
some of works like art that are costing maybe fifty thousand dollars in the future may go
to as much as a hundred and fifty thousand dollars or even more than that. I know that
some works go for more than a million.
HF: What do you think of just attending an art show and picking up a few nice ones
which kind of appeal to you for fifty, or hundred, two to three hundred dollars and then
holding on for a few years, is there a good chance that you can….?
OP: If you can find somebody whose work is going up in price, who is well established
or who looks forward to establish themselves; some artist whose work has quality enough
that in the future they going to be worth some money. It’s lot of people who buy art are
really buy it for their home to enjoy, unless they move into someone’s work who is fairly
established or look like they may become established.
HF: What happens to your spirit, your mind, your sense of values when you do a lovely
painting and look at it, stand back and look at it and you are really proud? What takes
place?
OP: I think probably it’s like a new creation, I think if you come back to your own
children and they accomplish something and you feel like that’s my son or that’s my
daughter. Look like they have accomplished, maybe really well, a piece that you’ve
created is still a thing that you’ve created and you look at it and you enjoy it. And you
always feel that it has to reach your expectations. I’ve often said, since a person says oh,
that is my master piece and they are finished.
HF: You are still waiting to paint; you are the most successful painting artist.
OP: So you ah look forward to the next one that you do be better than they one that you
get finished. There is always seems to be imperfections in that you’ve done and you
always striving to do something better.
HF: Oh, Idaho Rexburg too, has been an artist place for art and gallery and so forth. What
recommendation would you make where in we could maybe have an art spring art
festival? Something of this nature or people like the names you’ve mentioned could come
in and put their art on display?
OP: I think if they would organize an exhibit and really go to these artist see if they could
get them to co- operate like I say, at one time we had good exhibit here but I don’t
remember having knew exhibit here for a long long time. Maybe I’ve moved out but I
don’t know. It’s like the many like I said, many of these artist who are really working at
the present time whose work is moving, they feel like since they have a piece finished
they need to go where they can move it or sell it. And that is what they are doing, because
that is where their livelihood is coming from. It is the pieces that they sell. So when they
finish a piece of work they usually try to get it to a gallery that could find, move it on to
customers. But…
HF: Actually we could maybe have a period of time a week in the spring when their art
could be displayed and people could share it and come to appreciate what art is. And then
if there is no sale for it, then they could pick it up on goes to what is gonna be sold.
OP: Well, actually it has an exhibit anyway and the work that was shown there, would be
sent on to their galleries that handle their work if could… I think if we are to go to these
artists and maybe contact them and see if they would be willing to exhibit. But you need
to have a place for it and be showing and it needs to somebody needs to do some
proselyting and get the people to go to. I remember the first show that I had, first of my
shows that I had in Rexburg, show opened and my wife and I were there. And we had one
person attend the show that day. And then it was advertised, so…
HF: As we close is there any good counsel that you could give to the artists or anyone
who might one day listen to this interview.
OP: Well I think that there… got beautiful new kids of artist in this area and people ought
to consider trying to get a piece of original work and put in their home. It really enhances
the beauty. When I go into a home, the first thing I do is, I don’t look at the kind of car
they drive. I look at their wall to see what they have surrounded themselves with. They
have any original piece of work or any original pieces of ceramic or sculpture or all sort
of kind of books that they have.
HF: Brother Parson, I want to tell you how much I have appreciated you being here this
morning and sharing with me and maybe hopefully some listeners of this tape, your
expertise and your good will and your spirit. That has created wonderful area of the art.
OP: Well thank you, I really enjoy it very much and I hope that my comments would be
of a benefit.

Voices from the Past
Art and Painting
By Oliver Parson
August 3, 1982
Tape # 28
Oral interview conducted by Harold Forbush
Transcribed by Theophilus E. Tandoh October 2004
Brigham Young University- Idaho
HF: Art and artists in Madison, Fremont Counties in the state of Idaho. It is my privilege
this early morning of Tuesday, the third day of August, nineteen eighty- two, to interview
Oliver Parson. Who has been involved in the subject matter for many years, and we are
most delighted to have him come to Rexburg. Mr. Parson would you state your resident,
well let’s have you state your full name, your residence and your occupation?
OP: Well, I am Oliver Parson, and Rexburg has been my home since 1954. I came to
Ricks College at that time and was heading the Art Department and served in that
occupation for nineteen years, and then after twenty- five years I retired. So at the present
time, I’m [ a] retired Art professor, I am a painter, I do workshops in different areas but at
the present time I have just returned from a mission in Canada in the Montero Canadian
Mission, where I served for eighteen months.
HF: So you are not really retired. You are still very much involved in painting and
pursuing your love of painting?
OP: Yes, I still am. In fact whilst I was on my mission I taught a number of art classes to
non- members and had several art exhibits in Canada of my paintings. And I brought a
number of paintings home in fact I sell them in Texas and some in southern Utah on the
way home from my mission.
HF: Where were you born and when?
OP: I was born in Kansas in 1916 in a little town called Hanra Kansas it’s just a very
small place, it had about maybe hundred and fifty people.
HF: And when?
OP: In 1916, December the 24, 1916.
HF: Okay, and would you share with us just a little about, of your background, your
ancestral background, both sides of family?
OP: Well, my parents were farmers from farmer families. And my mother’s parents were
German background; they came from Iowa, and were pioneers in central Kansas. My
father’s parents were also homesteaders in that area of the partion name, searching
genealogy, we’ve had some success in finding out that they came from Pennsylvania and
my father’s mother was a Roger and that line is a little bit harder to find and we think
they came from Oklahoma or something, it is a little bit harder to find.
HF: What were the various factors or motivating circumstances that led you into formal
training as an artist?
OP: Well, I’ve always wanted to be a carpenter, as [ a] small lad and I used to go to all the
cowboy movies that I can see and attend. And then I started to draw the cowboys and the
horses and when I was in grade school, I used to enjoy the aromatic life of the outdoors.
And I started to paint when I was in the seventh grade. I really didn’t have much formal
training, like a small school I went to high school we didn’t have… in high school but I
still painted and it was sort of self taught until I reached the age of a junior in college,
where I really earned my first formal training but I remember when I was small, my
grand parents had two homes, one was the regular home and then they had this little two
room house that we lived in some of the time, and on the wall they had little painting that
was about 8 by 10 that some artist had done and I used to just look at that and that wasn’t
the original and think probably that was of the places that I got the idea that maybe I
would like to be an artist. And I think as far as paint and to be an artist or a painter that
was where I got my inspiration and probably it really wasn’t a very good painting but it
was one that I enjoyed.
HF: At that time did you know anything about Charles Russell?
OP: No.
HF: And Remington?
OP: No, I didn’t really know our history at all, in fact many of the things; I didn’t have
any background in any art history at all. I used to like, like I said cowboy movies and I
learnt to read while enjoyed cowboy stories and I think, ah I can think of it, a painter
whose work I like very much. He wrote a story - Will Jane, and the story’s smoky. And
then in one of his books he had some beautiful paint drawings and I really enjoyed those,
in fact I copied, used to copy them. And so that was probably my first association with
outdoor drawings. And I used to enjoy the … the Saturday Evening Post, and then
eventually I enjoyed Charles Russell. I didn’t really become acquainted with the
Remington’s art for many years. I like Charles Russell, I thought they were tremendous.
HF: How about the influence maybe of this Thomas Myron?
OP: No, like I say, I really didn’t come across their work, we didn’t have any art books in
the school where I went, I had an old art books on my own. And so my closest
associations with illustrations will be from the Pope Westerns that were on the market at
that time. I used to enjoy the drawings and the paintings in the books and the covers. I
remember my uncle used to read those Western books, Western Pope Magazines as they
were. I used to hang on to the cupboards and tear out some of the pictures for scrap. I got
some scrap that I’ve had for many many years. Scrap is we call it is when you collect
pictures. In fact I’ve looked in through some of my stuff just recently that I’ve collected
since the ’ 20’ s. I remember in one of the news papers and magazines they used to have an
adromy that was put up by one of the commercial, art correspondent courses, famous and
less famous artists. Anyway I drew that and I sent it in and that was in or I was going to
try this, I think it is in the early ’ 30’ s or maybe in the late ’ 20’ s, 1920’ s and I sent those in
and I think have a little book that they sent me. So I wasn’t very old.
HF: Professor Parson, you indicated that you came here to head the art department at
Ricks in 1954, what formal training had you at that time and maybe did you get formal
training afterwards or just what was they?
OP: Okay maybe I came last in 1937, I just graduated from high school. And like I said,
we’ve had no formal training and I went to Weber College and they didn’t have art at
Weber College at that time and I was still interested in it and I used to do chalk cups for
entertainment on the stage, at ward functions and man by the name of Clarson in Obt
Insomy, working one day and he contacted me and he was a window decorator and he
liked my work and so he offered me a job as painter. He didn’t do any painting, but he
did do animated window decoration so I did all these paintings for about four years. And
I had finished my schooling at River College and then I went to University of Utah and
took art from one of my favorite western painters or landscape painters was a man by
name of Lucan Stewart, he was the head of the art department at University of Utah. So
down there, started taking art from the university art department, I did pretty well in my
first quarter there. I went from an average from a C student to a straight A. But like I said,
I had very little background in it. But I remember Lucan Stewart said you got a good
feeling for landscape painting and he said you will do alright. So I got my degree from
University of Utah and education and was a major in art. And I went to Colorado State to
get a minor which was in industrial log. After graduation I taught school in Salt Lake for
two years and it was about the time of the war. And so I left teaching profession and
worked for Remington Armforce. And we built ammunition fifty calva machine gun volts
is what I was working on and I was a tool guy repair man there for a couple years. Then I
went in service for two years and then when I came back I went back into teaching in
Antonia, Ogden. My first job when I came back out of service was in elementary as I
taught art to fourth, fifth and sixth graders. And I remember I had thirty classes a day, not
part in those thirty classes. I had thirty students and we had, well anyway every half hour
I had a new group of students and then from there I went to another school in the same
Ogden city school system and taught two more years in junior high then I got a job at
Spring Ville high school as guardian instructor there and I was also the curator at
Springville High School and went back to the University of Utah and got my masters
degree.
HF: Now just a little diversion here, Spring Ville does have a quite famous art display, or
what is it?
OP: Yes, it has an art gallery there that was built during the depression era years by the
Derive Gaye, and it is a beautiful art gallery. It has, well I should say an art museum,
because they have about ten or twelve art rooms in that building and they have a
collection there that’s really, I think probably the most outstanding in the mountain west.
HF: Is this picture, original, or prints?
OP: Oh yes, no no it’s all original.
HF: All original. Is it primarily of western painting?
OP: Not necessarily no, it’s all times. And every spring they have national show there
where they had bringing paintings all over the United States and anyone is that is well
known they try to get very good art there.
HF: In your opinion, in your manner is there a way of classifying or grouping art and say
artists who follow a certain line or philosophy or style?
OP: I think that you can probably, there is a number of - isms but you can probably break
it down into realism or abstraction and realism if you want to just break it into several
categories but there are other areas in there for instance cubism and impressionism. For a
number of years abstraction was the going thing but the pendulum has swung in that
direction where most of the colleges were teaching only that time. Still there are some of
them still going that direction but the people here in the upper valley at least at Ricks
College we try to teach fundamentals and some of these Collages; they taught in such a
manner that they really didn’t give them the basics. They didn’t want to destroy people’s
ability to do their own thinking, so they wouldn’t really give them a direction. In my
feeling I think people really need to have a good foundation and then they can go any
direction that they want go.
HF: And so that’s been your effort as an instructor to give a lot of good basic training.
OP: That is right. Yes and then they can go abstraction or cubism or any direction that
they want to, but they need to have a foundation.
HF: Now when we talk about western paintings, is that part of realism?
OP: Yes, yes but its subject matter and it matter that people can recognize the subject are
recognizable. And in this western paintings you can have quite a bit of freedom you have
all freedom that you want to have. But the…
HF: You can emphasize maybe action?
OP: Oh yes, many of the western painters now. Some of them go back into history and
some of them paint the west as it is, at the present time really; they don’t go back into
history. They are influenced by the ranges and cowboys and the Indians who actually are
with us today, some of the painters don’t necessarily go back into history or try to paint
things as they were then but as they are now.
HF: In other words they get their inspiration from what they see.
OP: That is right.
HF: With the abstractism or obstruction type painting it’s from what, imagination?
OP: That is right. It’s ah, what they do is they do work with probably the principles of art
and elements of art. But some of those paintings are only for the people who had done
them to interpret them. You really don’t know what they had in mind when they when
they were doing it. If you just have to look at them and say well, it has good color, has
good line you may enjoy it, but as far interpreting it you may not know for what sure
what the artist had in mind when he was painting.
HF: Let me just pinpoint some things here and get your reaction Mr. Parson. The subjects
I guess which Remington and Russell used, the plain Indian and cowboy- can you respond
to some beautiful paintings in that area and painters other than those that I’ve mentioned.
Are there those that seem to want [ to] perpetuate what Russell and Remington did, can
you call in mind any art, piece of art that somebody has done and somebody the name.
OP: You mean well, we’ve only mentioned Remington and Russell. At one time
Remington’s paintings were taught of as commercial. He is known as a commercial artist.
But I am going to deviate just lightly from [ the] question but his paintings now are in my
estimation are real masterpieces, there are fine arts they are really beautiful. I just saw an
exhibit of his last winter and Ogden Burg, New York. It was; they are really beautiful.
Dare Stab did western things and Myron both of them did the west, they Myron enjoyed
the Grand Jury of yellow stone he did some beautiful things of the Yellowstone area and
Dare Stab did the western mountains. And as we come on down, there was a group of
people probably who were most influential after those painters there, there was a group of
people who came to Taos, New Mexico and started an art college and there was about
five or six of them who went in there first. George and Henry Sharp were one of the first
men in there, Philips, Bloominshine …
HF: When were they, what the late nineteenth century, or even in the twentieth century?
OP: Some of them I don’t know if any of those groups are still living or not, Freemon
Ellis I still see some of his paintings. But I think if he is living he is very very old. Seems
to me like some of those other men have passed away, but seem to me like they came in,
in the thirties and established the colony there.
HF: Were they influenced by the scenery the last day?
OP: Oh yes, the people the Indians the quietude of that country thing. Beautiful light and
the color and the Indians and Mexican people who were in that area. Sharp did most of
the Indians … Bloominshine did the canyons. There was another man who did a lot of
work in that area and he was Delano. He was quite famous and William Ali was another,
at the same time.
HF: In the Taos?
OP: Yes, in the Mexico area.
HF: Well now, since you came to the Upper Snake River Valley in 1954, what particular
landscape here in this Upper Valley has influenced you?
OP: Well, I like all trees along the river. I think it is beautiful in the fall. This is nice I
use; when I first came here I spent a lot of time in the Rexburg bench, on the bench there,
I homestead the old buildings were there, first came here. I did a lot of those old
buildings and…
HF: You take your belongings with you and your paintings?
OP: Go out and find those areas and paint them, most of them are gone now. I enjoy the
Tetons, most my paintings at the Teton have been from the Idaho side… the Jackson side.
HF: Who, would you give, up along the distance or would you go right up there in the
mountains?
OP: I did a lot of my paintings just south of Tetonia around Tetonia, because you get
those trees’ foreground. I used to like to have something in the foreground so the creeks
there and that gives a nice foreground and then you have those tyrant peaks in the
background about the area.
HF: Now do you take photographs?
OP: No, I used to paint, I [ am] getting older now so that I … But as at least have a good
background of painting directing from the things. You have knowledge that you like.
Sometimes photographs are hard to work with unless you have a lot of experience from
actual painting on the scene. It is harder to work from the photograph I think.
HF: Now how do you, do you like capture events, social things?
OP: I like going back to the wagon and buggy, I like to put horses and wagon like the
pioneer things in my paintings. In recent I’ve been like I say like wagon and people going
to town and from town, covered wagons. In fact I sort of lived in that area a little bit.
When I was a youngster we moved from south Kansas to western Kansas in covered
wagon and we lived in a dug outs, did have a wood flow in them. But snakes were pretty
friendly with us. So I did live with the wagon and buggy experience when I was a
youngster.
HF: And you tried to bring people into those?
OP: Yes I do, I go to, I also like rendezvous tracker subject of this rendezvous, where you
can actually get a good scrap, good photos of actual people on and their equipment. And
you have authentic reference to work from.
HF: Have you ever done anything with the P area rendezvous 1832, the gathering of the
… up here in Teton basin?
OP: No I haven’t, I should have a rendezvous up in that area.
HF: Every year now.
OP: So I need permission on that, because it is good painting material.
HF: How about portraits of people, do you have people sit and…?
OP: Yes.
HF: You did that?
OP: Yes do portrait and I enjoy portrait painting very much it’s really enjoyable to have
someone sit for you. You have a rapport or a relationship of learning their characters,
their inner thoughts drawing their portraits.
HF: What’s the most enjoyable painting that influenced you and you just always loved
down through the years?
OP: That’s probably, I really don’t know whether I can say, well I enjoy this painting
more than anybody else’s. If you go back to portraits figure, you back sending the
impressionist from France, I enjoyed their work very much- Degour, Remont the two that
I enjoy very much. There were several people whose work I used to enjoy that were from
the twentieth century, Ogden Pliers he may be dead now, I am not sure but he was a
water colorist that I enjoyed. I like his work very much. And probably as far as water
color is, I probably was influenced by him and then the others. I used to hand his work
when I was a curator at the Springville Art Gallery and looked forward [ to] seeing his
work pretty much.
HF: Now do you personally, did you start out by using oil and canvas?
OP: Yes, my first painting was, I found a canned and when you open it up the oil on top
is usually different than the pigment underneath. So I remember the two different colors
like I said, the oil is one color and the pigment below was a different color. So I started
analyzing that and I used to use my mother’s blooing for part of my equipment. I didn’t
have much equipment when I was young crisis tends it enormous to paint with. I
remember the first oils I had they were about the tubes are probably, maybe two and half
inches and smaller than your little finger. And they were so precious that I really never
did use those paints. You know I used to open up the tube and squeeze out just a little bit.
But after the flood, I found some of those tubes that I still had and that would have been
all forty- five years old.
HF: Now, in getting supplies, I suppose it isn’t difficult to procure your oils now days?
OP: No, no
HF: And your brushes?
OP: Brushes and paints are easy to keep now.
HF: They are not probably too expensive.
OP: Well, they don’t give them away. But they are much easier to get hold of them than
what they were when I was a youngster.
HF: Now the material that is referred to as canvas, what is that material, is that something
of fabric out the real canvas?
OP: It’s a fabric, it is woven just like the canvas like the canvas that you…
HF: Very tightly woven.
OP: Yes there are different materials, you got a cotton canvas, most expensive and
probably better I don’t know, whether it’s really better but the linen canvas it cost you
more. There also you can paint on what is known as canvas board, they are probably the
least desirable, masonize is a good material to paint on, and I have been doing some
paintings on masonize. Many artist paint on masonize, most of them will paint on the
smooth side rather than on the rough side. They put a coating on it or seal it, which
usually gesso, couple of coatings, gesso is put on there and it gives it a good seal. And it
is a good background to paint on.
HF: Now Mr. Parson, we’ve talked about oil and canvas, what other media is used for an
artist to express himself?
OP: At present time they have a guarsh, which is a water soluble material but is sought
like poster paint. You can use water color also, which is a water soluble pigment. And
you paint on most generally is painted on paper but the paper is a very good quality, is
usually made rag paper. There is also acrylic, which is a material that is just recent
development and drives extremely fast and it’s very durable. I usually don’t enjoy using
acrylic because it drives too fast. There is a past out which is another media that you
might say well, it is short like chocolate is. It is the good pigment that they use in these
other materials like the same pigment that you have in oil and water color only it’s in a
dry stick form, and it’s a good media to use. It is rich in color. Both water color and
Pastal have to be under glass to protect because it could be smeared or get damaged if
anybody touches it because it. We also have pen and ink, pencil charcoal; those are good
media to use.
HF: Those called paintings or just sketches?
OP: No they will be called drawings.
HF: Drawings.
OP: This is just viable as paintings are. And they can carry the same message and be just
as expressive and just as enjoyable as these other things.
HF: Now you’ve used the oil and canvas, the water colors?
OP: Yes, I’ve used them all.
HF: All of these that you’ve been describing, you’ve used them all.
OP: One that I have never done egg template which is a good medium, it is used with
water color and we use the yokes of eggs as your vehicle or as a media to thin your paint
with. And it’s very durable and it dries very quickly. Andrew Wyle who is one of the top
painters in our country and he does, many of his paintings are done in egg template dry
brush. It’s sort of a water color medium but it’s beautifully done and you can get very
accurate detail because of the method of putting it on just a little bit of a time.
HF: Well, now as a professor here, the head of the art department, what was used up here,
what schemes and what types of art did you teach and was provided here in Ricks
College in these awesome twenty five years that [ you] were professor?
OP: I think we’ve covered most of the things we’ve been mentioning here; we used all
the media here.
HF: Did you?
OP: Yes, when I first came out I was the only member of the art department and I taught
everything. And I was by myself for six year. So I thought all the classes, taught all the
subjects in the art department. Brother Powell was the first instructor that came to join the
art department and he taught when he first came, he taught some lettering and ceramics.
We just sort of divided the area up by, I thought mostly the oil paintings and if I
remember right he did teach some of the water color. By the time I left Ricks, we have
added five more instructors besides myself. At the present time, there are six art
instructors at Ricks College. And they cover all the facets.
HF: That will include the area of sculpture or sculpturing.
OP: That is right. I taught sculpture for many years and then eventually, John Marfid
came and took over the sculpture and then after John Briggarin was the sculpture teacher.
At the present they are getting a new sculpture teacher. Briggarin is moving down to
Brigham Young University.
HF: Does sculpturing appeal to you as equally with painting?
OP: I love it very much. It is more time consuming. It takes a longer time to get a piece of
art created during sculpture work.
HF: What was your first piece of sculpture?
OP: My first piece of sculpture is you go back probably was some alabaster carving and
some animals that did… and the crafting line. And I did some horses, fighting stallions
and in wood, I carve some in wood and eventually did those in clay and then I worked
with the clay quite a bit. My first one in doing people was a pioneer man and his wife.
They were only about ten inches high and that was my first attempt.
HF: And this was out of clay?
OP: Yes, that was out of clay.
HF: What did you do, fired that, and make sort of pottery or something?
OP: Yes. And you can work in on oil clay that has to be cast, if you use oil clay you have
to cast, though you can work with wax and this has to be cased.
HF: You cased it into metal?
OP: You make a mole first and then you can either cast in cluster pallet or cement door
and have them cast in bronze. That is the most durable, it is quite expensive. I might go
back and mention that Alacoal was the executive of faculty at Ricks after brother Powell
and then Robert Wall came as one of our faculty members and then…
HF: Have they trained in a particular way, focusing attention on some facets?
OP: Yes.
HF: For example just indicate that.
OP: Well, brother Coles worked one period of time. He worked quite abstractly, and he
was doing very well with his painting and he was winning prizes at exhibits and so you
look at peoples work and see what they are doing also how much recognition they are
getting in different areas and so that is a good criteria as to adding it. As faculty member
we also like to have fun and have some experience in teaching. Usually we look and see
whether we are successful in our school where they were teaching. Many of them went to
high school before they came to Ricks. After brother Coles, we added Brother Muffed
and then Richard Bird was commercial artist who was doing very well in commercial art
field. And he got after he received his masters degree in Brigham Young University we
added him to our faculty. He’s going to commercial field. After when I retired my son
Leon who had trained in Los Angeles at the art centre was doing Freelance work down
there and he came and took over some of the commercial art areas at the art department
in Ricks.
HF: Now with the department acquiring this new facility in the… what is this building up
here…
OP: Oh the fine art building?
HF: No, no over in the other building. They got the new; they put the new addition on the
Kirkham and all.
OP: Oh, that sculpture and poetry, yes for ceramic. That was added after I left.
HF: That is a new dimension through the art department.
OP: The facility didn’t change the instruction because the instruction was being given for
many many years before that building. It’s just a nice facility; it is a good physical
facility. But the instruction has been given for many years. So I just made it better as far
as it facilitates the teaching area.
HF: So that will expand the opportunity for students to do more things bigger and better
things?
OP: I don’t think they expand the opportunity for them to do much more. It just makes it
more comfortable.
HF: I see.
OP: Because we’ve been doing the same thing that they are teaching now for many years.
HF: Now brother Parson down through the years is an instructor here with the art
department. Has there been a display of an exhibit what the students do in the art
department. They’ve been displayed?
OP: When I first came to Ricks. I was desirous.
HF: The interview will be continued on side two of this tape. Side two continuing the
interview with Oliver Parson pertaining to art and artists in Fremont Madison County of
Idaho. Now you were commenting about a place to exhibit and demonstrating art.
OP: As I started to say, when I first came, I was desirous to have the upper here known as
a night area. And I remember soon as the Kirkham auditorium was built I made sure that
the ball room had facilities to hang painting in there. And we had many exhibits in the
Kirkham. We invited one known artist to have one man show, we had group shows there
and the students we usually had a student showing in there. And then when the new
Manwaring Center was built, it was also fixed to have paintings and oil and I should say
exhibits in there. And we had stands that were fixed so we have excellent shows and a
number of years we had invitational show compared to what we had in Springville, Utah.
And we had artists from all over the country send paintings and I also made trips to many
different cities and picked up paintings for that show. But it was finally discontinued. I go,
it was rather unfortunate that it was discontinued, because it gave the people in this Upper
Valley the opportunity to see an exhibit which for many people they have no opportunity
at all to see a national show.
HF: Was it discontinued because of lack of genuine demands for both interests in the
thing?
OP: Well, probably administrative, I don’t know. Maybe we take… too expensive, I
don’t know. But it was conducted in such a manner that the whole community was
involved in it because the people who conducted the tours or who acted as hosts were
from the different community… or different wards in Rexburg would be given a certain
day that they were to come and act as a host for the show. And many people were
becoming involved and becoming acquainted with different medias and many people
didn’t even know the difference between the water color or… and so it wasn’t an
educational thing that I felt that it would have been nice and it could have been continued.
HF: That gives rise to the question that I have here. What can we do locally to assist and
spread the good word as far as knowledge, exposure and assisting the artist in a
disposition of their works selling them?
OP: Well, that is …
HF: That is a tough question isn’t it?
OP: Yes, tough question, people need to become acquainted with the artists who are in
this area. They are saying that you don’t find many communities with the population of
size of Rexburg with the number of artist who are participating in this area. It’s probably
very few people; people in this area owned the original works of this artist. Most of the
artist works going to out of state.
HF: To go out of the area to sell.
OP: They are sending their work all over the country and a very few people here even,
never see their work.
HF: What can we do to remedy this situation?
OP: Well, it would be very well if we could at least have an art exhibit. I remember that it
was rather hard, when I was running the exhibit here to ah…, once I put show the up to
get keep the show up because if they had a dance while they hold and pull a hundred
thousand dollar exhibit down so that somebody could have a dance in the ball room
which was the only facility where we could hold the shows. But…
HF: But you’ve been frustrated I think.
OP: I gotta say you got an exhibit maybe even more than a hundred thousand dollars of
the paintings and people want to pull them down to for… I think that people ought to
become acquainted with the artist that they have here. They really have some excellent
artist here.
HF: Why don’t you name some our artist and designate those who as you name them
indicate whether or not they were students of the art?
OP: Well, probably if we mention some of these art faculties, Franchis Richard Bird, an
excellent artist one of the excellent teacher then.
HF: What does he specialize in?
OP: He specializes in…
HF: Commercial.
OP: Commercial work but his fine art work, he is doing his water color, just beautiful
water color work. And he was one of my former students actually I think he started
taking art with me about the second year that I taught here. And I probably missed his life
of that change. He… I think he was going to be a chicken farmer until a life of interest
and the excitement being an artist. I’ve had a number of Dawn Ricks’ sons, as students
and Dawn and his four sons are in the area. They are…
HF: Doug…
OP: Doug and Russell.
HF: Doug and Russell?
OP: I think he has four of them are painters here and they all live in this area. And most
of their work goes out of the state.
HF: What are they classified, what type of paint?
OP: They are doing westerns, I know Doug is doing beautiful water color and oil, Indians
and TP’s and …
HF: Did he have to sell them in Texas?
OP: Most of them go to; a lot of them go to Texas. My son is Darling, does a lot of work
for the church. And his work, he’s also a freelance artist; he is sensitive work too in
Texas and Arizona and to Wyoming. Most of it goes out to the state. Very few people in
fact he could see any of these artist work. Lyon who filled my vacancy when that I made
when I retired, many of the people see his work if they look at the outdoor live he’s been
doing the cupboards for the outdoor live since December. And he also sends his work to
the galleys out in the state. One of my other sons is also in this area painting like I said;
you have many people here who are painting the Le French’s…
HF: Ronny…
OP: Ronny is one of my former students he teaches art down at the art school. Carolyn
Coul Clarkson…
HF: She is a student of yours?
OP: I think so, I am trying to think whether I am sure I’ve had hers student in the old
Clement. I’ve had Robert Wall, Robert Wall, he is one of the professors up there, but he
is one of my former students. John Morphed who is sculpture work and he is a former
student. Tim Wilbert has taken art from me, Marion Cheney, Arlene Hampton who lives
in St. Anthony at the present time is doing some beautiful past stuff. I just saw some of
her work recently. And she is from one of my former students; in fact she started taking
art from me just about when I arrived here. And that’s very… It might be interesting I…
when I first came… it was sixty years old. Who came to … taught and she finished her
degree and taught art three years and then she retired and continued painting until she
was in her eighties. Sister Lennon was really a good artist. I talked with her just before
my mission and she said oh, how happy she was that she had our art and she continued to
paint. She said many people came to her and wanted her to do paintings for her. She was
also a very good musician and pianist. But she said they didn’t come to her home to listen
to her music to enjoy her paintings. And so was happy to have had the experience and
checking up… I’ve had many people at the present time who are quite successful in art.
It’s rather hard for me to pin point names, I thought well maybe I should have gone back
and looked through my role books and picked up someone…
HF: Who are involved and making it livelihood.
OP: Oh yes I have many of them who are making a livelihood and good livelihood in the
art field.
HF: What particular type of paintings did the public seem to really go on?
OP: They like realism; they get right close to a painting and see that the anatomy is
correct on whatever people would like to see…. the anatomy of which trees and the rocks
are correct. They seem to want paintings to be quite photograph.
HF: Can you suggest what for a good painting?
OP: There are artist who very well established their paintings in the three thousand mark.
You are going to some of the paintings such as, Tom Level or John Claimer who belong
to an American Callaway artist association. Their painting is selling at fifty to eighty
thousand, eighty five thousand. It’s very lucrative.
HF: Where did they place these paintings to lift together a price like that, any place in
here in west?
OP: Oh yes, in Jackson, you go to Jackson, Wyoming and just in galleries over there.
There are some paintings about four or five galleries in Jackson trail side of the galleries.
And lot of these…
HF: Did they place their paintings on some kind of a consignment?
OP: Yes on a consignment. And the galleries tend to take the paintings. A lot of these
paintings that the French’s mentioned are sold from the very high are sold in auctions,
some of them along with the livestocks auction where they have price, animals, horses
and cattle. And they also have these exhibits and the paintings are auctioned. There is an
exhibit usually in October in Phoenix, Arizona where the cowboy artists in America have
an exhibit and they exchange hands there on horse in a million.
HF: Brother Parson ah… in the Upper Snake River Valley, is there an annual guild or an
art exhibit or some kind of an art show where in our local people can make disposition of
their paintings?
OP: At one time we had the Upper Valley artist guild and it was organized just soon after
I came here we had quite a number of artists in that group and we…
HF: Here in Rexburg?
OP: Yes, at the present time I don’t know of any of art guild here. I think they may or
there is not… but I don’t think there is an exhibit here. Usually… and see some of these
artist work and also at the Madison County fair they usually have a fairly art exhibit at
the Madison County fair and you can see some of local artist like I said some of these
artist don’t put their work in so their… see those that maybe go to their studio and see
them before the ship were on fifth west. That you can see I think maybe he has a galley
down on the Arture Limon road.
HF: Do you have one?
OP: I have one in my home.
HF: Of your own, and your sons or just of your own?
OP: No just mine.
HF: Of your own. What do you think of ah… and I would like you to comment on
purchasing art at an auction as an investment for future speculation and resale profit. Is it
a good thing to get into, do you know what you are doing?
OP: If you know what you are doing it’s a good thing for instance, some of these that I
mentioned. Some of these work that way up in the thousands. I am sure that some of
these people who put their self pieces of work are purchasing as an investment. Because
some of works like art that are costing maybe fifty thousand dollars in the future may go
to as much as a hundred and fifty thousand dollars or even more than that. I know that
some works go for more than a million.
HF: What do you think of just attending an art show and picking up a few nice ones
which kind of appeal to you for fifty, or hundred, two to three hundred dollars and then
holding on for a few years, is there a good chance that you can….?
OP: If you can find somebody whose work is going up in price, who is well established
or who looks forward to establish themselves; some artist whose work has quality enough
that in the future they going to be worth some money. It’s lot of people who buy art are
really buy it for their home to enjoy, unless they move into someone’s work who is fairly
established or look like they may become established.
HF: What happens to your spirit, your mind, your sense of values when you do a lovely
painting and look at it, stand back and look at it and you are really proud? What takes
place?
OP: I think probably it’s like a new creation, I think if you come back to your own
children and they accomplish something and you feel like that’s my son or that’s my
daughter. Look like they have accomplished, maybe really well, a piece that you’ve
created is still a thing that you’ve created and you look at it and you enjoy it. And you
always feel that it has to reach your expectations. I’ve often said, since a person says oh,
that is my master piece and they are finished.
HF: You are still waiting to paint; you are the most successful painting artist.
OP: So you ah look forward to the next one that you do be better than they one that you
get finished. There is always seems to be imperfections in that you’ve done and you
always striving to do something better.
HF: Oh, Idaho Rexburg too, has been an artist place for art and gallery and so forth. What
recommendation would you make where in we could maybe have an art spring art
festival? Something of this nature or people like the names you’ve mentioned could come
in and put their art on display?
OP: I think if they would organize an exhibit and really go to these artist see if they could
get them to co- operate like I say, at one time we had good exhibit here but I don’t
remember having knew exhibit here for a long long time. Maybe I’ve moved out but I
don’t know. It’s like the many like I said, many of these artist who are really working at
the present time whose work is moving, they feel like since they have a piece finished
they need to go where they can move it or sell it. And that is what they are doing, because
that is where their livelihood is coming from. It is the pieces that they sell. So when they
finish a piece of work they usually try to get it to a gallery that could find, move it on to
customers. But…
HF: Actually we could maybe have a period of time a week in the spring when their art
could be displayed and people could share it and come to appreciate what art is. And then
if there is no sale for it, then they could pick it up on goes to what is gonna be sold.
OP: Well, actually it has an exhibit anyway and the work that was shown there, would be
sent on to their galleries that handle their work if could… I think if we are to go to these
artists and maybe contact them and see if they would be willing to exhibit. But you need
to have a place for it and be showing and it needs to somebody needs to do some
proselyting and get the people to go to. I remember the first show that I had, first of my
shows that I had in Rexburg, show opened and my wife and I were there. And we had one
person attend the show that day. And then it was advertised, so…
HF: As we close is there any good counsel that you could give to the artists or anyone
who might one day listen to this interview.
OP: Well I think that there… got beautiful new kids of artist in this area and people ought
to consider trying to get a piece of original work and put in their home. It really enhances
the beauty. When I go into a home, the first thing I do is, I don’t look at the kind of car
they drive. I look at their wall to see what they have surrounded themselves with. They
have any original piece of work or any original pieces of ceramic or sculpture or all sort
of kind of books that they have.
HF: Brother Parson, I want to tell you how much I have appreciated you being here this
morning and sharing with me and maybe hopefully some listeners of this tape, your
expertise and your good will and your spirit. That has created wonderful area of the art.
OP: Well thank you, I really enjoy it very much and I hope that my comments would be
of a benefit.